We Love The Stars Too Fondly

There’s a tequila ad out there that I’ve seen but not paid much attention to until tonight.

Remote country road bar, end of the world arriving. Armageddon. Fire falling from the skies, tornadoes, most everyone running around panicking.

Except for our protagonists, apparently eyeing each other and figuring that there’s (literally) no time like the present. So while everyone else runs around looking for a way to escape the inescapable and to hide from that which can not be hidden from, they decide to have a shot of tequila and dance while the world end.

I like it.

The world truly doesn’t care. In the big picture, we’re a glorified fungus on a dust mote around an average star. Probably a statistical improbability just waiting for extinction.

So when the moment comes, if the universe doesn’t care, then you have to. If you’re going to go, go dancing.

Except that I don’t know what brand of tequila, so from a strictly Madison Avenue standpoint, the ad’s a failure. But maybe next time I see it I’ll pay attention and remember, so it might not be a total failure. Yet.

Dance.

That feeling when you’re starting to feel overwhelmed and exhausted and maybe even a bit panicky because there’s just SO MUCH HAPPENING ALL AT ONCE and an awful lot of it is bad and scary and threatening and all you can see are the worst case scenarios and you’re grateful when something that happens that is simply BAD instead of really, Really, REALLY BAD so you’re looking for answers and a plan and something that’s not just striking out in anger and fear and that little voice in your head asks, “Do you need to re-invent the wheel? There must be groups that have dealt with things like this before, what do they do?” and that’s when, if you can remember to keep reminding yourself that you have had some training and education in that regard and the lessons were to simplify, focus, prioritize, endure, persist, and above all, “Fly the plane!”

You’ll pardon me if I’ve mentioned it before, but that’s a critical one and worth repeating.

“Fly the plane!”

To wit, my flight instructor asked me during a takeoff what I would do if the door next to me came unlatched and came open suddenly. I figured I would try to close it or see if I could hold it with one hand or… Wait, you’re at a critical stage of flight where a distraction can be fatal. Pull up too steeply and stall, roll a bit to one side or the other, don’t pay attention to those tall smokestacks over there, slow down and lose airspeed — and you’re a statistic. Will the door being open cause the plane to crash? In fact, no, it won’t. It will be distracting and scary and loud and unexpected – but your job is to ignore all of that and “Fly the plane!” The door coming open won’t kill you, but being distracted by it might.

“In fact, the door DID come unlatched for me a few months later, and it is a loud, startling occurrence. But I flew the plane until I got to pattern altitude and had a moment to breathe, then I got the door shut again. It was a non-event because I “flew the plane!”)

That theme occurred over and over. What if the engine quits? Okay, you try to re-start it, check fuel, look for a place to land, call for help… but do it all while flying the plane.

In life, right now, there are a lot of scary distractions that seem threatening. But in fact, very, very few are potentially fatal or as disastrous as we might think. As long as we keep remember to “fly the plane.”